What Twisted Webs We Weave

I Wonder If Your Therapist Knows Everything About Me

(Pete's POV)

It was 1:00pm which meant Patrick should be finished with his therapy session. He promised he'd keep going if I promised him that I would always be there to pick him up. To remind him why he was forcing himself to do this in the first place.

He'd usually be waiting in front of the small office when I drove up. But today he wasn't. Maybe his session was running a little long. Good. That meant he was actually talking in there.

I parked the car and walked into the front entrance. Hoping he didn't walk out as I was walking in. Patrick didn't seem to want me to know what the inside of this place looked like. And now that I was seeing it, I didn't understand why. There was nothing special about the interior. Everything was either beige or brown. The chairs, the walls, the carpet, even the pillows.

The receptionist's desk was empty. So there was no one to stop me from looking around a little more. I walked past the waiting room. Peeking my head into one of the open doors. It was decorated similarly to the main room. Boring.

"Hello?"

I whirled around. Sticking my hands in my pockets as I did. There was a tall, gray haired man with kind eyes looking at me. He didn't appear bothered by my snooping around so I relaxed a little bit.

"Hi. I-I'm looking for Patrick Stump."

"He just finished his session." He nodded his head towards a room further down the hall. One I didn't get the chance to look at. "He's in the restroom."

"Okay. I'll just go wait in the waiting room." I mumbled. "Like I should have been doing before."

"Pardon my asking, but are you Pete?"

"Yes." My brows furrowed.

He knew my name? Patrick talked about me? Of course Patrick talked about me! He said I was the reason for his self harm. This man knew all of our secrets. It was freaky to think about.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." He didn't hold out his hand so I didn't either.

"Pete?" Patrick's voice saved me from the discomfort of the man's conversation. "What are you doing in here?" He wrapped his arm around my waist when he stopped at my side.

"You ran a little later than usual." I smiled down at him. "So I came in."

"And spoke to my therapist?"

"He introduced himself."

"I apologize if that was out of line." He directed the apology towards Patrick.

"It's okay." He began walking me out of the hall. "Thank you, doctor. I'll see you next week."

When we were safely on the other side of the front door, I shuddered. "Well that guy is a fucking creep."

"No he isn't." He laughed. Sliding into my passenger's seat. "He's the nicest person I've ever met."

"I'm not going to argue with you." I backed out of the spot. Easing the car onto the street. "He just gave me a weird feeling."

He didn't say anything else about it. Patrick grabbed a hold of my free hand. Surrounding it in both of his. I spared a glance off the road in front of me to look at him. His light eyes were staring into the side of my face. A smile resting on his lips. Someone was in a good mood today.

He kept my hand in his during the entire drive to his job. Only letting go for the few seconds it took to get out of the car. When we walked in, the waiting room was full of people. The waiting patients smiled over at us. Clearly happy to see their original doctor was back from his lunch break.